By Slanted Light

Never ever too late to comment! *g* (Though I am off to bed in a bit, but that's a different kind of late... *g*)

I didn't read it as self-harming for certain, and I'm not at all convinced that's what happened - it occurred to me, but - as you say it could have been something else to do with his escape attempt. It does sound as if his wrist is carefully bandaged, as if someone else did it for him and so it didn't happen on this occasion, but I could be wrong about that... Definitely not naive not to jump to the most complex explanation, though! It's almost a much bigger jump to assume that he tried to slit his wrists to escape that way, though - maybe the bandages were where he'd been injected continuously with drugs or summat? (Is that medically possible?) Cos Doyle did say they pumped him full of all sorts which is why he's confused... I like the way it's left open to interpretation though - it's not ambiguous enough that it takes away from the story in general, cos it's not the point of the story. Something sinister happened, and the wrist-thing is tightly bound up with that, but the story is actually about what's going on now that he's got away, so... I like it! *g*